COVID-19 has touched almost every facet of life across the globe, radically affecting health, livelihoods, social interaction, and more. Beyond its more tangible impacts, COVID-19 has also upended the progress made in gender equality, with women in many countries disproportionately affected at work and home.
In Thailand, women account for a significant part of the workforce in industries that have been hard hit by the pandemic – about 65 percent in hospitality and services, and about 49 percent in manufacturing. With the pandemic-induced increase in responsibilities for care and housework, many women have been forced to leave paid employment to take on additional unpaid care, such as childcare, elderly care, and home schooling.
The pandemic-induced gender challenge is not unique to Thailand. Globally, women’s jobs have been nearly twice as vulnerable compared to men’s: while women make up 39 percent of global employment, they accounted for 54 percent of overall job losses as of May 2020.
Automation will add to the existing global challenges. McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) research has found that automation may cause between 40 million and 160 million women worldwide to transition between occupations by 2030, ideally into higher-skill roles.
The gender equality imperative for economies and companies
It is not just women who suffer when progress on gender equality is derailed. McKinsey research has found that, if no action is taken to counter the gender-regressive effect of COVID-19, global GDP growth could be $1 trillion lower in 2030 than it would be if women’s unemployment simply tracked that of men. Conversely, if action is taken to advance gender equality, up to $13 trillion could be added to global GDP in 2030.
Companies also stand to benefit from the gender diversity dividend. We have found that the top quartile of global companies with gender diversity in their executive teams are 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability compared to companies in the fourth quartile.
Actions that leaders can take now
Approaches to promoting gender equality will need to be tailored to country contexts. Some of the interventions that may prove beneficial are:
- Encouraging companies to make gender diversity a core part of their hiring process.
- Establishing clear pathways for women interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers to transition from academic institutions to the job market; this would help address Thailand’s need for more STEM talent to drive the nation to becoming a value-based economy
- Leveraging the paradigm shift around remote work may allow companies to tap into larger and more diverse talent pools across geographies, and also provide opportunities for current women workers – particularly mothers and caregivers – to balance their professional and family commitments
- Family-friendly policies, including flexible programs and part-time programs, to support women workers experiencing increased caregiving burdens during the pandemic and beyond
- A professionalised childcare industry, with public-financing support for social services infrastructure; this could not only enable many women to work but also create employment for others in the industry
- Measures to promote gender diversity in funding for women entrepreneurs, including eliminating biases in recruitment and selection processes for incubators or accelerators
- Long-term awareness and de-stigmatisation campaigns, in collaboration across all sectors, to promote societal understanding that a larger number of women at work represents socially and economically beneficial progress for the nation
While no one knows with full certainty what the post-COVID world will look like, there is an urgent imperative for organisations, governments, and societies to take action now. Findings from our research and the numerous conversations we have had with leaders worldwide have made this clear: what benefits gender equality also benefits economies and societies.
COVID-19 has forced many organisations to rethink fundamental paradigms around work. In doing so, it presents leaders with a choice. They can act now to remove barriers to greater female participation in workforces and in society, and reap the economic and social benefits; or they can allow the status quo to prevail, resulting in the loss of massive economic opportunity and poorer quality of life for millions of women worldwide. The choices and value at stake are clear. The time to step up to challenge gender inequality is now.
About the Authors: Noppamas Sivakriskul is McKinsey & Company’s senior partner and managing partner for Thailand, where Harry Seip is a partner
For further information please contact Alan Laichareonsup at email: Alan_Laichareonsup@mckinsey.com
Series Editor: Christopher F. Bruton, Executive Director, Dataconsult Ltd, chris@dataconsult.co.th Dataconsult’s Thailand Regional Forum at Sasin provides seminars and extensive documentation to update business on future trends in Thailand and in the Mekong Region.
